Should it be illegal for the press to publish names and photos of minors who are charged with a crime? The topic is under debate this week in El Salvador, after the paper La Prensa Gráfica was fined for publishing a sequence of photos showing a 17-year-old stabbing a student on a busy street in San Salvador.
Edgar Astudillo Vásquez, producer of a news program on Radio Panzenú, received a pamphlet—allegedly from a paramilitary group—that said he would be killed before April 20 in any street in his city of Montería in Córdoba Department, El Tiempo and El Heraldo report.
On a week of nonstop aggressions and attacks against journalists in Latin America, this news post from journalist Martin Angel Tax alerts us to the shooting Thursday evening of Luis Felipe Valenzuela, director of the Emisoras Unidas radio network.
Enrique Lazo Flores, editor of the newspaper La Región, in the southern city of Ilo, Moquegua, was accused of attacking the honor of a regional politician Renato Ascuña Chavera, the Crónica Viva site reports. The prison sentence was suspended, but organizations denounced it as a serious threat to freedom of expression.
Ramón Ángeles Zalpa, a correspondent for Cambio de Michoacán newspaper, was last seen Tuesday, April 6, when he left his home for a local university where he is also a professor, Article 19 reports.
José Carlos Stachowiak, host of a police program on cable TV in Ponta Grossa, Paraná, made grave threats on the air against a journalism student who wrote a blog post criticizing his work. See the video in this post Querido Leitor (Dear Reader), by local journalist Rosana Hermann.
Businessman Aldo Zuccolillo, editor of the newspaper ABC Color, was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine plus interest to indemnify a judge who the newspaper had criticized for acquitting former President Luis González Macchi of embezzlement, ABC Color reports.
Security Minister Óscar Álvarez offered $5,200 for information that helps to capture the killers of five journalists and other crimes against prosecutors, judges, and attorneys, La Tribuna reports.
Two suspects, ages 19 and 20, were arrested in Caleta Olivia, in Santa Cruz province, accused of setting fire to journalist Adela Gómez's car last week, Clarín reports. However, a judge released them because of inconsistent evidence against them.
Access to Internet has grown considerably in Latin America, increasing the access to social networks. According to a report by David Cuen for BBC Mundo (Spanish), Latin American Internet users don't surf in isolation. At least 95 percent of them have an account on a social network.